“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
-William Shakespeare
AAMI is suggesting that we adopt the new name of “Healthcare Technology Management” to encompass our overall profession and create a unified vision for the future. Name changing is not unusual. Businesses have long understood the importance of having the right names to insure their success. Usually they opt for something that is relevant to their industry or to their goals. Sometimes they will choose something catchy that creates clear brand identification in the eyes of the consumer. Many companies whose products or services change over time also will change their name to reflect those changes.
IBM has had three names. They were first called the Computer Tabulating Recording Company and then became International Business Machines. Their final change to IBM dropped all association with the older product lines and allowed them to shift products and services while remaining under the same name. UPS also underwent a number of name changes. They started as the “American Messenger Company” delivering packages, messages, and running errands for companies in the Seattle Washington area. Most of their services were performed either on foot or via bicycle. When they began acquiring cars and trucks and changed focus to package delivery, they became Merchants Parcel Delivery. With further expansion of operations offering services to a wider range of businesses they changed again to United Parcel Service. Apple also has undergone a slight change. The company was originally called Apple Computer, but as iPods, iPads, iPhones and other non-computer products were added, they dropped the term “Computer” from their name and simply became Apple. That newer name reflects that their product categories are much broader than computers.
Hospitals have not escaped the need for name change. As many of them have either merged with or acquired other hospitals and added outpatient clinics they have begun calling themselves Healthcare Systems. Within hospitals we have seen the Radiology Department become “Imaging” to reflect many of the diagnostic methods they use that do not require ionizing radiation. Materiel Services changed to “Supply Chain Management” and Personnel became “Human Resources”.
Now it is our turn. We have always had some confusion as to what we should call ourselves. Some departments call themselves Biomedical Engineering while others have preferred Clinical Engineering. AAMI’s suggestion of “Healthcare Technology Management” to encompass the overall profession certainly has merit, but I strongly suspect that instead of uniting us, it will only result in adding a third name to the already confused mix.
I would prefer that rather than spend time finding a name for ourselves, it would make more sense to spend time determining what we do. As a profession, we have not developed any department operational standards. The standards we have are minimal and established by the Joint Commission and various applicable regulatory agencies. Beyond operating to those standards, the range of services offered by hospital based biomedical or clinical engineering programs is widely varied. Some departments limit themselves to, planned maintenance, and repair, while others perform a much broader range of services including device design, incident investigation, product selection, contract management and many others. Committee assignments are also varied. While most departments serve on the Environment of Care Committee, others may be involved in much broader areas serving on product selection teams, working with researchers and providing technical input to their hospital’s Institutional Review Board. Unless we begin to develop a better definition of ourselves and until we all have some common goals and standards, with programs and educational support to help us all achieve them, a new name will not improve us.